in-house counsel

The lesson of rigorous preparation has been taught throughout history.

In the 5th Century BC, Sun Tzu, in The Art of War, denounced lack of preparation as the most heinous of crimes, and celebrated good preparation as the greatest of virtues. In the 1st Century, Seneca defined luck as something that happens when preparation meets opportunity. Michelangelo grumbled that if people knew how hard he had to prepare to gain his mastery, it would not seem so wonderful at all. In Henry V, Act 4, Scene 3, Shakespeare has the King giving the most famous pep talk in history to his overwhelmed army as they prepared for the unlikely English victory at Agincourt in 1415, explaining that “all things are ready if our minds be so”.

The Paris GPC drew a huge crowd, with approximately 300 attendees, and was jam packed with discussions from 8am until 8pm. Taking place during Paris Arbitration Week, with numerous events held across the French capital, there was a strong emphasis on arbitration alongside other ADR mechanisms. Read more

Business schools (though, sadly, few law schools) teach negotiation skills and techniques, but more often as an elective than as a core subject. Most people emerge from business schools and law schools as instinctive positional bargainers expressing themselves in the form of wants and demands rather than needs and interests. They tend to be touchy about negotiation. Tunnel vision and a gladiatorial approach can block their ability to explore wider prospects and better opportunities. Read more

The Berlin Global Pound Conference, held on 24 March 2017 at the International Chamber of Commerce in the heart of the capital, was the first I had attended in the series of 39 worldwide events. The conference brought together an effective representation of Germany’s dispute resolution community, with handpicked in-house and external lawyers, institutional representatives, ADR specialists, academics and others, all stakeholders were well represented. Read more